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Journalist finds himself on army "hit list"

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Carlos H. Conde

www.gmanews.tv

Last week a journalist the accused the Philippine Army of putting his name on a military "hit list", report the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Carlos Conde, who regularly writes for "The New York Times", "International Herald Tribune" and his blog http://carlosconde.com/ , said his name allegedly appeared in an "order of battle" document prepared by the army in 2007.

Conde said the official document amounts to a "hit list" that contains more than a hundred names, mostly members of anti-government groups. Allegedly he is the only journalist on the list, and is classified as "targeted." Orders of battle are usually extensive military plans that include tactics and targets.

According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), at least one person on the list has been murdered; Celso Pojas, a peasant leader in Davao City, was killed in 2008. "Others have been threatened and harassed," the NUJP statement said.

In the past, political activists who have appeared on such lists are among those who have been murdered in the Philippines allegedly by military and paramilitary units. According to CMFR, more than 1,000 political activists and 40 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 2001.

Now based in Manila, Conde worked for a long time in Southern Mindanao, covering the military's decades-old conflict with Muslim and communist rebels. He told CMFR he believes his inclusion on the list is connected to his being the former coordinator of NUJP in Davao City. He was also the union's secretary-general from 2004-06, at which time he led local campaigns against the killing of journalists.

"Why my name is included in the 'order of battle' is a mystery. Unless, that is, the armed forces considers my and NUJP's advocacy for press freedom, as well as pressuring the government to end the killings, as the work of enemies of the state (and) unless the Armed Forces of the Philippines views my job and my writing as threats to my country," he said in a 19 May statement.

CPJ reports that this year alone, four radio journalists have been shot on Mindanao, with a fifth attempted shooting in the northern province of Abra. Extrajudicial killings have been the subject of concern by the United Nations and human rights groups.

Officials of the 10th Infantry Division, the list's alleged authors, have disowned the document. Colonel Lysander Suerte said in an interview with CMFR that whoever came out with the document only wants to misinform and "agitate the people to go against the military."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Related stories on ifex.org

The Philippine Army in southern Mindanao allegedly included a journalist and two media organizations in a 2007 watchlist of persons and organizations it claims to be connected to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm, the New People's Army (NPA). But the military has disowned the watchlist.

The Philippine government must address a series of shootings that have targeted journalists on the southern island of Mindanao, the latest coming on Wednesday when gunmen critically wounded a local radio broadcaster, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Two people were convicted of murdering journalists in 2016. Nevertheless, the Philippines remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice journalism, and violent attacks against media workers usually go unpunished.

Impunity for crimes against journalists was compounded by a lack of progress in trials related to the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, an election-related crime in which 32 journalists and other media staff were among the 58 people killed.

Press freedom in the Philippines continued to be under attack from 2014 to 2015. The killing of journalists is continuing, with four journalists killed from May 2014 to May 2015. The trial of the accused masterminds of the Ampatuan (Maguindanao) Massacre and their supposed henchmen is continuing, but with a primary accused was released, while a witness in the same case was killed.

CMFR has issued a monograph report on the issues of journalists' safety, from the perspective of owners/their representatives. The report included discussions on how the owners see their responsibilities and their capacity to provide protection, the problems and what they perceive to be the most serious challenge to the protection of journalists

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